Mattress picker and renovator



July 14, 1931. D. F.q DoUGAN 1,814,670

MATTRESS PICKER ANDVRENOVATOB Filed May 17. 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet l youjanD. F. DouGAN 1,814,670

MATTRESS PICKER AND RENOVATOR July 14, 1931.

Filed May 17, 1930 4 Sheets-Sheet 2 l f /z /5 July 14, 1931 D. F. DoUGAN1,814,670

MATTRESS PICKER AND RENovAToR Filed May 17, 195o 4 sheets-sheet 4`me/niiet 7.00 ujan Patented July 14, 1931 UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICEDAVID F. D'OUGAN, 0F MEMPHIS, TENNESSEE Y MATTRESS PICKER AND RENOVATORApplication filed May 17, 1930. Serial No. 453,300.

:.1115 by the filling may be blown into the tick and whereby thedischarge of material intov the tick may be` stopped without stoppingthe operation of the machine.

A further object is to provide means where- .20 by the material may bedisinfected as it passes thrpugh the 4discharge chute into the mattresstic Other objects will appear in the course of the followingdescription. My invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings,wherein Figure y1 is a longitudinal sectional view through a picker andreno'vator vconstructed in accordance with my invention;

Figure 2 is a section on the line 2-`2 of Figure 1; j

Figure 3y is a'section on the line 3-3 of Figure 1; i l

Figure 4 is a. sectionon the line 4-4 of Figure 1; l ,f Referring tothese drawings, 10 designates a supporting frame of any suitablecharacter and having the bearings 11 for a shaft 12. Disposed below thisshaft and between the end frames 10 is the lower section 13 of a drum,the upper section of which is designated 14.

These sections are concentric to the shaft and the two sections arehinged to each other l5 at 15 so that the upper section may be turnedback to expose the interior of the drum'. The

shaft passes throughthelendwalls of these drum sections. l TheY innerfaces of the drum sections are provided with longitudinally ex- 50,tending strips 16 carrying inwardly projecting teeth or pins 17. Theupper section k1s provided with a relief port 18 having a door 19 heldclosed by buttons 20 under normal circumstances.

Mounted upon the shaft 12 and rotating within the drum are a series ofpickers. The pickers are formed by a series of disks 21 having hubs 22Vwhich are engaged to the shaft by means of set screws or any othersuitable means. Disposed against each of these disks, is a relativelythin metallic disk 23 havingrelatively long outwardly projecting webs orarms 24 provided at their ends with longitudinally extending relativelylong teeth 25. Four of. these teeth are illustrated, the outside teethextendingstraightv outward, the two middle teeth being reversely bentwith relation to each other in opposite directions. As illustrated,there are four of these arms or webs 24 for each disk 23,

vbut I do not wish to be limited to this number. The arms are shown asdisposed in quartering relation to each other. Disks 23 are bolted tothe disks 21 by means of the bolts 25a. 'At the entrance end of themachine, the shaft 12 is surrounded by a hous- Iingv26 in the form of apulley mounted upon 'the shaft to prevent the iilling such as cotton,

hair or the like as it enters the drum from becoming wrapped around theshaft.

OneV end of the shaft is provided with the driving pulley 27 and alsomounted upon this shaft inward of the pulley 27 is a power :transmissionpulley 28. At the opposite end `is a section of screen material 31 ofreticulated metal fabric which is supported upon Vthe arcuate flanges 32and mounted upon the inner face of the lower section of the drum.

' The lower section of the drum adjacent the intake end thereof andbeneath the screen 31 is provided with a dust box or trunk 33 whichextends downward from the lower section of the drum and is formed with abottom wall which extends downward and laterally and opens into a dustdoor housing 34. In this housing, there is disposed the rotatable fan 35which is mounted upon a shaft 86. This shaft 86 is mounted in suitablebearings upon the end frames of the machine and carries upon it thepulley 37 driven from the pulley 28. The inlet opening of the dust box33 is disposed immediately beneath the screen 31 so thatthe screenprevents the cotton, hair or other filling from being carried down'-ward into the dust box. The exhaust fan. 35 acts to withdraw all thedust and foreign matter which is liberated by the beating and piclringgiven to thematerial bythe pickers24.

Remote from the inlet end of the drum is a horizontally extendingdischarge chute 38 whose lower wall'at the rear end of the chute opensinto a fan' housing 89 in which is disposed a rotatable blower fan 40.The rear end of the chute 38 is connected to the drum by the verticallyextending trunk 41 which opens into the lower section of the drum andthe opening of the trunk 41 into the drum is controlled by a slidingdoor or valve 42 having a link connection to an operating rod 43 wherebythe valve or door 42 may be closed or opened.

Vhen the valve 42 is closed the discharge of material from the drum iscut off and the fan will then act to discharge any material which may bein the chute into a mattress tick held with its mouth around the openingof the chute 38. Means are preferably provided'whereby the open end ofthe tick may be held closely around the endof the dis1 charge chute, butI do not wish to be limited to any particular means for this purpose'.

It will be seen that with the construction so far described, the fillingof the mattress is fed in the hopper' 30 and'discharged into the drum.The picker blades 24 act to tear the material apart, loosen the packedfibres and thoroughly pick it. At the same time the exhaust fan drawsany dust or foreign matter out of the cotton, then discharges it intothe dust box. Y

Preferably, there is provided a relief door 44 which may be used toreduce the air drawn from the drum 13 so as to permit the amount of dustor dirt removed from the mattress filling to be regulated. Of course, byopening or closing the door 44 to a greater or less extent, it ispossible to remove all of the dirt or dust or remove part of it. The

upper section of the drum is provided with an opening 45 normallyclosedY by a door 46. When this door 46 is opened and with the fan shutoff, material will be forced out on the floor instead of beingdischarged through the chute in case the machine should be used forcleaning cotton and other brous materials for use otherwise than forstuffing mattresses. This is for the reason that with the regulardischarge shut off, the material which is fed into the drum through thehopper 30 must pass off somewhere and thus if the door 46 be opened, thematerial will be forced out. By opening the air relief door 19, suctionexerted on the material by the fan will be reduced.

Preferably, I provide means for spraying disinfectant on to the fillingmaterial as it passes through the chute 38 to the tick.

This is mounted upon the frame of the machine preferably beneath thedust box 33 and includes an air compressor 47, a tank 48 for holding thedisinfectant and a sprayer 48a discharging into the chute. Thecompressor or air pump will be operated from the lower shaft 36. I. donot wish, however, to be limited to this as while this is a preferableconstruction, it may be omitted.

Preferably a relatively low partition wall 49 is attached to the lowersection of the drum and is disposed between the screen 3-1 and theremainder of the drum, thus acting to prevent material from goingthrough the drum too rapidly.

It will thus be seen that with a structure of this character, thekmattress' material is thoroughly picked, pulled apart, and loosened upand that during this process, the dust, dirt andother materials of anydesiredy degree are withdrawn from the' mattress andv discharged andthat at any time desired the door or valve 42 may' be opened so that thesuction fan within the fan casing 39 will draw the ma teria'l downwardintov the chute 38' and discharge the material out of the chutel intothe mattress tick and that this discharge may be cut olf at any time.

The' structure is simple', may be cheaply made, but isfoundparticu'larly effective.

There-are certain features of operation which it is thought best toreiterate and stress. One is that when the door 46 is opened' and thevalve-` 42 is closed, any cotton or hair or material that is being; run`through to be cleaned and worked overr will be forced out as it iscleaned through the door opening instead of going through the' passagevinto the tick as before explained. v

The air relief door'44 relieves the suction created by the dust removingfan so that the material will not move throughl the drum quite sorapidly and acts on the same principle as if the dust fanwere sloweddown which is not possible under' these circumstances. lower drum andrelieves the air pressure with the result that less dust and dirst istaken out through this dust fan than would be iff it was not open. Ingoing through the drum, the materiali is drawn in by the suction ofthe'fan and with the centrifugal force is whipped around between the ends ofthe saws and the teeth projecting inward from the wooden braces of thedrum so that it is thoroughly picked and then it passes over the Screenso This air port lets more' air into' the that it is thoroughly cleanedand then out through the spout 38.

l. A picker and renovator of the Character described, comprising a drumformed in two sections, a frame supporting the lower section of thedrum, the lower section of the drum having at one end a receiving hopperdischarging into the interior of the drum and at its other end a bottomsection having a stock discharge opening, the interior of the drumhaving inwardly projecting teeth, a shaft extending through the drum andprovided with radially extending blades formed with radially extendingteeth at their extremities, the lower section of the drum adjacent thereceiving hopper having a dust outlet opening, a screen spaced from thewall of the drum but extending over said dust outlet, a dust boxdisposed below the lower section of the drum and communicating throughsaid outlet with the interior of the drum, an exhaust fan having ahousing communicating with the interior of the dust box and havingdriving engagement with the first-named shaft, a downwardly extendingtrunk communicating through said stock discharge opening with theinterior of the drum and discharging into a horizontally extendingchute, a fan disposed below the chute and having a housing communicatingthrough the bottom of said chute, the fan having driving connection withthe first named shaft, and manually operable means for cutting offcommunication between the drum and said chute.

2. A picker of the character described, comprising a drum having a stockinlet opening at one end and a stock outlet opening adjacent the otherend, a dust outlet opening adjacent the stock inlet opening,fa dust boxconnected to said dust outlet opening, a fan housing connected to thedust box and having an exhaust fan therein, a shaft extending throughthe drum and having beaters mounted thereon, the drum having a reliefopening provided with a door.

3. A picker and renovator of the character described comprising a fixeddrum having inwardly projecting teeth, a hopper opening through one endwall of the drum into the interior of the drum, the other end wall ofthe drum having a stock outlet, a shaft extending through the drum andcarrying pickers thereon, a dust box communicating with the drumadjacent the hopper thereof, an exhaust fan driven from the shaft andhaving a housing communicating with the interior of the dust box, adischarge chute extending below the bottom of the drum and communicatingwith the interior thereof through said stocky outlet, and a rotatablefan having a housing communicating with the interior of the chute.

In testimony whereof I hereunto affix my signature.

DAVID F. DOUGAN.'

